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After more than 30 years as a movie and television star, Mandy Patinkin has a pretty good handle on what works for him.

His two-year stint as Jason Gideon on Criminal Minds wasn’t right for him. His part on the Emmy-winning Homeland is the complete opposite.

Same with his appearance in the iconic ’80s film The Princess Bride.

“A day doesn’t go by where someone doesn’t ask me about that,” he recalled in a recent interview. “There’s always a part of me that goes, ‘They’re asking me because I was in that; I got to be in something that was like The Wizard of Oz ... How did that happen?’ I don’t have a clue.

“I met Rob (Reiner) at a wedding of a friend and then he sent me the script and he asked me what part I’d like to play.”

Patinkin’s role in Zach Braff’s Wish I Was Here (in select cinemas now and opening across Canada Friday) falls into the same category.

“This film is the perfect fit,” Patinkin, 61, told a small group of reporters.

In the movie, Patinkin plays Gabe, a dying man trying to forge a connection with his sons (played by Braff and Frozen’s Josh Gad) before it’s too late.

“This movie hit my heart; a parent with two kids. (Gabe) did some stuff right, he did some stuff wrong. He had a wonderful gift of a daughter-in-law (Kate Hudson) to help and, before it was over, he saw the light and he was able to live the way he wished to.”

He continued: “I actually think that the white light that people talk about is literally seeing the light of life. Who gives a s--- if you see it one split second before you go because you saw it.”

Patinkin, who credits “good luck” for his staying power, was impressed by Braff’s scrappiness as a director (the former Scrubs star raised funds for the film on Kickstarter).

“When I meet someone like Zach … someone who wears all the hats and can pull it off, they’re like magicians. They’re like a gifted child. It’s their belief in their vision and their dream that makes you just say, ‘I will do anything for this idea and this vision.’ ”

Spoiler alert: Gabe repairs his fractured relationship with his sons, but the film’s denouement and spiritual journey left Patinkin a little unsettled.

“You’re here and then you’re not,” he said. “I get birth, and I get the sun rising, but I don’t get death. I know it happens, I know nobody gets away without it, but I don’t agree with it. It’s the one flaw in the system. I have a feeling and a hope that when your time comes, in one way or another you become ready to understand it. But I’m not there.”